Advertising Ourselves to Death

Mind The Generation Gap

[by Sunni] At last week’s SMC Dallas meeting, we discussed social networking and politics (attendees included Tony Wright, Jake McKee, Lauren Vargas, Blaine Collins, and Blake Poutra). I thought it would be worth elaborating on some of my comments, especially since I know Todd would find this interesting (and worth some mockery: anyone want the over/under on how long it will take him to post a smart-ass comment?).

For starters, here’s some background:

• In elementary school, when I begged my parents for an Atari, they went out and bought a Commodore 64 with a cassette deck. This was my introduction to computers.
• My college computer was a Powerbook 165c.
• I started using email on a daily basis in 1994, usually to communicate with professors about assignments.
• I also started instant messaging in 1994, using the "finger" and "talk" commands through Telnet. I'm sure this sounds pathetic, but let's take this in context -- our campus had a wired computer in almost every dorm room. The quicker you learned the "finger" command, the easier it was to slack off while writing that 20-page research paper on gender roles in Roald Dahl's short stories...
• By 1997 I was citing web sources in my thesis paper.
• I have lived in three states in the past 10 years, and I keep in touch with my family through e-mail and instant messenger (my mother and father have taken to IM like fish to water).

What should the above facts tell you about me? Well, aside from the fact that I may or may not lean toward the nerdly side, it should tell you that my familiarity with computers and networking in general predisposed me (before I was even aware it existed) toward a career in the internet industry. Here are more tidbits:

• My main form of communication with loved ones is electronic, which could explain a somewhat unusual familiarity with social networking sites (considering I graduated from college close to 10 years ago). I share photos with my family over Google and Flickr, and I would love to set up a JotSpot when/if that tool comes back.
• Because I'm keeping up with three different regions for news information, I also rely heavily on the Internet as my news source. I use Google News Alerts to keep up with specific subjects, then tune to local news sites for quick snapshots of info. I also watch local news stories on the web sites for those specific news stations. My first stop of the day, however, is news.google.com, which gives me quick hits from all over the world. The amount of news I consume on a daily basis can be staggering.
• While I’m more Generation Y than Generation Wired, I represent the cusp of what’s to come.

As a result of having spent the majority of my adult life firmly entrenched in learning, researching and collecting news and information on the internet, I find that I am fairly disassociated from any sense of locality. My connection to my current city of residence is tenuous at best, even with the solid network of friends I've managed to build (It doesn't help that I do not plan on living in Dallas for the rest of my life). I have voted in local elections, but hardly with any regularity, and rarely do I fill in more than a couple of lines on any given ballot. This is not lethargy on my part -- I take the time to get to the voting location, I take the time to read up on the major issues -- and it's not quite apathy. I DO care, but because of my submersion in the world of internet news, my understanding of politics and issues is heavily slanted toward a national scale. If it's not covered by NPR, The Daily Show, or my favorite local blog, I won't know about it.

And here, finally, is the point of this post: I'm going to be following this year's Dallas mayoral race very closely for the first time in, oh, ever to watch this guy. Dubbed the "MySpace Candidate" by Esquire, Zac Crain has wholeheartedly embraced the social networking approach to politics (great article from Cardiff J-School here). While this is a common method in national races (see Barack Obama's site, which Blake nicely calls to task for being a clunky copycat), this is a pretty rare tactic for a local race. While Zac may be young, inexperienced, and a former music critic (gasp!), he has accomplished a feat rare among his associates: He has managed to find me where I live online and has put his message in front of me in a manner that is befitting of the medium -- succinct, well-written, and with a snazzy logo. Zac uses the Internet as a tool, not just for disseminating information, but for finding and connecting with his constituents in an effective manner. In the coming new age of politicking, visiting the ice cream socials to sit with the families at the picnic tables and shtump about values ain't gonna work. Candidates have to find the new "neighborhood" gatherings -- and those are moving to the Internet. Show me a candidate that is comfortable in that forum, and I'll show you the "youth vote."

Do I think Zac will win? Not sure just yet. My instinct says "no," but that doesn't mean his race won't be important. If it gets me -- and others like me -- interested in the future of this city that I have chosen to live in for the time-being, then he's won a pretty big battle.

The A-Team

[by Sunni] Editor's note: I have just started a new job. Nancy is immersed in full-time employment and working on her PMBA. So there is a minimal amount of time we can devote to blogging. Apparently, however, we have oodles of free time for instant messenging -- and our conversations usually cover advertising industry issues. You know, what we should be blogging about. It could be possible that we lack time management skills. On the other hand, we're refining and enhancing our theories through discussion. So that these brilliantly refined and enhanced theories do not get lost in the vacuum of IM, I'm going to post our latest conversation word-for-word (besides some minor edits to the worst of the typos and off-topic remarks). By all means, join in our discussion...

Sunni says:

are you talking about Second Life in any of your marketing classes? because it is the ONLY thing any marketer is talking about these days: http://secondlife.reuters.com/

nfallen says:

no, we're looking at more high-level business management and strategy stuff right now. But thanks for doing your very important job of keeping me updated. This might be something I could very well use in our gambling project...

nfallen says:

...when we're talking about new delivery systems for worldwide customers, this could be a good match.

Sunni says:

this would have fit with your consumer behavior class -- are you taking any marketing classes right now?

nfallen says:

just the one... and it's not a lecture class, we're just doing this big project.

nfallen says:

BUT, I'm taking the Consumer Behavior teacher's next class in the spring. It's the Marketing Communications Strategy class -- it will DEFINITELY come into play there...

Sunni says:

if he doesn't bring it up, you have to -- it should be a whole class by itself! it's my theory that the only people that use SL are marketers and journalists doing "research" -- there are no where near the number of members that would warrant reuters having its own "news channel" devoted to SL

nfallen says:

What you're saying is that the only people using it are marketers and journalists, but they're so into it that they're creating hype that doesn't actually reflect the number of average joe people using SL?

Are your missile defense systems ready?

[by Sunni] (Note: I'll just echo what Todd said about life interfering with blog posting. And back to our regularly scheduled programming...)

In the past couple of months, I've done a little bit of traveling. Nothing exotic (ahem, Todd), mostly for weddings and work. But it gave me an opportunity to check out advertising in such glamorous locations as airports and bathrooms.

Exhibit 1
First of all, both of my examples are advertising campaigns for the government (or government contractors). I'm pretty sure we're all aware that the military has been going the extra mile in terms of nontraditional advertising, what's surprising is when a unique tactic comes from (drum roll, please)... the Library of Congress. Lo and behold, I found the ad at right hanging in the bathroom of a bar. Not a restaurant or upscale pub (you know, one of those places that at least has shelves full of fake books), but a generic bar. Anyone want to take a shot at this one? I'm sort of speechless...

Exhibit 2
This little beauty of advertising is hanging in the airport in Huntsville, AL. For those of you not familiar with Huntsville, let me give you a brief introduction: NASA was started there, and it remains the location of Marshall Space Flight Center. As the command center for all space-bound science experiments, Marshall is arguably the nerdiest of the three mission controls (Johnson and Kennedy are the other two). The rest of Huntsville is also impressively nerdy. There are a disproportionate number of PhDs, physicists and engineers in the city, and we can even lay claim to the founder of Wikipedia.

Of course, none of this comes anywhere near explaining the airport advertising. There is not one piece of the usual lifestyle ads featuring high-tech smart phones or perfume from the duty-free shop. Roughly 99% of the advertising in the Huntsville International Airport is geared toward the government contractor. After a brief walk through the terminal of this airport any traveler would know how to purchase a Boeing Globemaster III, lift heavy artillery into said transport aircraft, and then arm their missile defense systems. I tell you, the question of whether or not my personal missile defense system is ready has kept me awake at night. Good thing AGI has strategically positioned advertising to calm my fears... (I can't make this stuff up.)

Click on the image for the full power of the ad, as well as the call to action to visit the website.   

Things I like, part 1

[by Sunni] I'm a huge believer in the power of consumer evangelism. I mean, not that anyone disbelieves in it, but I don't think there's a lot of understanding of how it works. It's too theoretical -- not concrete and easy to categorize like a :30 spot or a radio buy. There's a tendency to believe (or hope) that consumer evangelism is something that happens after a really funny radio spot or because of a really shocking magazine ad. Who here has passed a shocking print ad on to their friends? In the last 5 years?

But who here has encourage their friend or neighbor to visit or purchase a really fantastic new restaurant, microbrew or snack? Passion for advertising doesn't always lead somewhere (reference my Burger King smackdown), whereas passion for a product tends to lead to evangelism. As consumers, we get that our favorite products disappear if no one buys them. Or, we just like the thrill of the find -- being the first of our circle to know about something and share that knowledge. 

The level of passion is almost always inversely proportional to the size of the company (Apple excluded). We love those underdogs. So small companies, take heart -- you can advertise in ways huge companies can't, won't or don't. Big companies, take notice -- you can advertise in new ways by taking cues from the small companies.

For starters, let's be inspirational instead of traditional. The blog Creating Passionate Users is one of my favorite industry-related reads (even though it's technically the software industry). My biggest fear is that Kathy Sierra will be outed as the next Malcolm Gladwell, and everyone will walk around quoting her all the time, and I will no longer appear well-read or insightful. (See the catch-22 of being the Maven?) Please take the time to memorize her chart on the differences of inspirational and traditional marketing. It's genius.

Which brings me to my ultimate point: I love discovering new things. New types of food, new music, new writers, new magazines. I don't always share my new finds -- music, for example, I tend to hoard for fear of hearing a new favorite song repeated to death in TV commercials. But when it comes to food and beverages, I always share.

My new favorite find: Three Thieves Bandit boxed wine. Yes, you read that right: Boxed wine. I've only had the Pinot Grigio so far, and it's delicious (and real wine critics think so, too). The containers are essentially the same thing as old-school juice boxes, and you can even buy them in four-packs. At 250 mL each, the small boxes are a super-smart way to conserve the flavor of wine -- never again will I have to worry about my wine going bad before I finish the bottle. (Ok, I never had to worry about that.) Plus, the pack of four is the equivalent of a liter of wine, and sells for $10. As a product, it's very nearly perfect...

There's one, small, minor disappointment for me (I like this product so much I don't want to label this a "complaint"): The Three Thieves website. As a passionate consumer, I'm left unfulfilled -- I want to know more about the people behind this product, and how and why they came up with the concept. I want a blog, people! Give me some way to learn more and -- gasp! -- interact. Don't give me the "not in the budget" spiel, Blogger is free. Shoot, I'll even volunteer Todd to help you get it started...

Selling meat to vegetarians

[by Sunni] I was so so happy to read Advergirl's recent post on leveraging blogs/wikis/networks in advertising. I had a tremendous "aHA!" moment. It went something like this:

Yes! There are others who have fought the battles I am fighting every day! There are others who kept hitting their heads on the glass ceiling of corporate desire to control "brand voice." There are others who are veering toward frustration with the mismatched paces of marketers and market: blogs, vlogs, podcasts, wikis, communities -- I barely have time to explain the newest trend before it's obsolete.

Ok, I can fit a lot of thought in a moment.

To add insult to injury, it's not enough to know what these trends are by definition alone. You have to know -- intrinsically -- how and why they work. You have to pick one apart through the code and then rebuild it, piece by piece. You have to post comments, mark tags and ping Technorati. Only then will you understand what the trend really is. Account teams, please don't try to sell me on a MySpace idea if you don't have a profile and at least a dozen "friends."

The thing is, it's great that everyone is getting hip to the catch phrases. Every day I hear phrases like "Web 2.0," "blogosphere," and "social networking." But dig a little deeper, and there's only a very superficial understanding -- sort of reminds me of the scene from Good Will Hunting where Matt Damon yells at the obnoxious Harvard student for reciting textbooks verbatim.

I've heard "Well, we're trying to go after the 13-21 male demo, we'll just build a few blogs." Huh? That's like saying, "Let's whip up a few video games to distribute." What are you going to blog ABOUT? Who's going to write it? Who's going to promote it? Who's going to moderate the comments?

Instead of jumping on the blogwagon by whipping up a few faux blogs, consider sponsoring an existing blog. Or a group of blogs. Companies like Blogads have made it easy for us: Blogs have been hand-selected and pre-packaged into tidy categories. (Henry, I expect commission.)

But once the idea is outlined, there's another aspect that needs to be considered: Free will of the consumer. Remember the annoyingly "cool" kids in high school? The ones that could infer something dirty out of everything you said, no matter how innocuous it was? Remember how aggravating they were, and how you eventually lost your temper and looked even less cool?

That's the Internet. At some point, the brand message will be twisted into something dirty -- not even the revered Apple can stop that. No amount of planning or packaging or glossing will prevent it. The companies and agencies that can laugh at themselves will succeed. The ones that try to retain control and refuse to allow the consumer to have a voice will crash and burn in a fiery ball of flames. But goodness, it will be fun to watch!

Brought to you commercial-free

[by Sunni] I have a confession to make.

I don't have TiVo. Oh, I had Comcast's version for a while, but the stupid thing never worked right. I would set it to record every episode of a certain show, and it would only remember to record every third episode. But it would always throw in some crappy movie-of-the-week (some deal with the major networks, perhaps?) in lieu of my scheduled programming.

So I ditched the box. At this moment, I have no VCR, no DVR, and no TiVo. And I missed tonight's episode of Lost.

Am I worried? Hell no. If Bram Cohen fails me, I rely on my trusty iTunes. And I watch my show at my convenience, without worrying that a shoddy piece of hardware might fail and leave me with the latest episode of Ice Skating with the Stars instead.

All of this is a long introduction to my point: That I totally agree with Todd's assessment of GE's One Second Theater. It is not only a feeble attempt at being trendy, but it's also a desperate attempt at being cool. And desperate and cool do not mix. Neither do iTunes and commercials.

So all these companies that have employed their best and brightest to create a work-around for the terrible TiVo (with varying degrees of success) have missed me – arguably their target demographic. But I'll concede to Todd's inevitable point that I'm "unique." (Although quite a few of my friends skip the DVR entirely and go straight for the BitTorrent.) The bigger point is that my friends that solidly rely on their TiVo fast-forward right through the commercials and never look back. Yes, they missed the One Second Theater. More importantly, they missed the Sprite-sponsored Hanso Foundation commercials.

But here's the thing: Lost is cool. CGI dancing elephants are not. So I'm willing to take the extra two steps to look up the commercials on YouTube. And I'm willing to give Sprite props for being innovative. But GE? Come on, get with the program. Or, to be specific – save your money and get OUT of the program. Stick to the cool stuff you're doing online.

Apparently I'm an idiot

Ahem, I'd like to introduce Sunni Thompson, a new writer on this site. I once hired Sunni and quickly learned that I got far more than I bargained for, as did everyone who sat near her.

We'll get a bio up for Sunni soon. But suffice it to say Sunni has a strong opinion about most everything. Infact she often has enough other opinions rattling around her head to speak up for anyone who doesn't. So you can count her being a lively addition to AOD.

To start things off Sunni decided to knock me around for daring to say Crispin Porter+Bogusky sucks.

I just know I'm going to regret this.

Todd c

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[by Sunni] Hi, I'm Sunni, and I like to argue with Todd.

(I should probably call him out on his inflammatory subhead -- and argue that he does not, in fact, dislike CP+B, he's just playing for a reaction. But I'm tired, and I'm willing to react.... So here goes:)

I totally disagree with Todd's assessment of CP+B's "too cool for you" style. While I'm not going to put them on a pedestal, I do think the agency manages to craft timely messages that do not pander to the lowest common denominator. The Subservient Chicken is notable as the first best example of a viral campaign -- and as proof of the agency's ability to activate risky concepts.

Did it sell more Whoppers? We'll never know. But I'd argue that it doesn't matter -- it raised the bar for originality, and forced (and continues to force) other agencies to think creatively, leading the way for other viral campaigns that were perhaps more successful in moving product.

What strikes me most about CP+B is their ability to "get" the cynical and tricky world of viral marketing. Where so many companies fail miserably (and embarrassingly), they seem to navigate with ease. For instance, the recent proliferation of the "Um-pimp Your Ride" VW commercials on YouTube. These commercials are a perfect fit for the YouTube audience, and have garnered millions of hits. But they were not made strictly for YouTube.

Is it just good luck that they've done so well online? Definitely not -- you don't stumble upon a formula that works with so many varied audiences...

It will be interesting to watch what happens to CP+B now that they've been on the cover of BusinessWeek. Will their work have the same impact if my dad knows just as much about them (the company or the ads) as I do? At some point, the elitest ad-types will move on to the next big thing, some new company that is stealthily creating groundbreaking work... And then BusinessWeek will out them, as well.